Between Choices and Soaring
by Aqualoner
Summary: You stand between your two best friends and watch the ground crumble beneath your feet. Ty Lee centric Companion to Between Destruction and Reprieve


Disclaimer: Okay, now I'm all sad.

Words:706

Character: Ty Lee

Beta; Mistress of Sarcasm, who gave me some awesome lines and made this fic not a complete wreck. What would I do without you?

Author's note: I write a Mai one-shot like this and Mistress of Sarcasm has an amazing Azula series. (demand you read and review) So I thought we can't just leave Ty Lee out so here it is. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever written.

* * *

Azula's aura _(a fierce, savage blue)_ is quickly turning deadly and Mai is drawing one of her many daggers and all you can do is stand there with your arms protecting your chest.

_(please go away, just go away)_

Because your best friends are fighting, are going to kill each other over pride, over decisions, over a love that surpasses fear.

This is friendship, this is camaraderie but it is not normal, not usual.

_(because you are the elite)_

And there is nothing you can do, unless you choose, unless you pick, unless you love one more than the other.

_(but you love them both for they are a piece of you)_

So when Azula _(perfect, awkward, poised, powerful Azula)_ gathers her lightning, you move without thought.

_(listen to your heart for it is the center)_

* * *

Mai is strong and Mai is tough and Mai is brave.

_(able to look Azula in the eye and not falter in the slightest)_

You are none of these things because you are afraid.

_(of Azula, of red, of pain, of being like your mother, of dying, of falling)_

You hide it behind an easy smile but you think everyone can tell.

_(are you the only one scared of what might be)_

Mai's aura is gray and silver when she's happy.

_(like steel swords and metal daggers and storm clouds)  
_

The things that matter in this strange, tragic, wonderful world.

Your aura is pink.

_(like a cherry blossom on the tree that lasts only for a day)_

A thing that doesn't matter but should.

_(Beauty should matter, you think)_

Something you tell Mai, her eyes distant _(searching for someone that cannot be found)_. But you knew she understood and knew she agreed.

_(And maybe Azula wants your help and maybe Azula needs you to save her but Mai listens when you speak and Mai hears you when you cry.)_

And maybe that's why you picked Mai.

Because maybe you need to be heard.

_(not laughed at, not pushed but heard)_

And you really don't think that is too much to ask for.

_(know your mind so you can know yourself)_

* * *

You are the third daughter.

_(lucky number three, your mother said, eyes bright.)_

You've got six sisters that all look like you with their brown hair and brown eyes. The exact same button nose.

The seven Tuan sisters all in a row.

_(a match set, your father said, eyes smiling)_

Except you don't want that. You don't want a pretty house that's a cage. You don't want a husband that does not feel. You don't want to be a shadow of nobility.

_(you want freedom; you want love; you want for people to know your name)_

So you announce that your true calling is the circus.

And your mother, eternally sad and internally conflicted, was the only one who didn't laugh.

_(do what you want for you may never get the chance)_

* * *

Acrobatics is an art.

_(of the body, of the soul)_

Nobody taught how to walk on your hands, to stand on your hands, to do a cartwheel. You just** did**.

_(it was in your muscle and bones, this knowledge as old as time)_

You learned how to paralyze enemies in the Academy. With nothing more than a hits in the right places, you could take down a man twice your size. With just a few taps, you could take away a person's bending. Their sense of self.

_(take away, get rid of, steal. Thief, thief, they call out after you, and your pride just barely pushes down your guilt)_

Your teacher called them pressure points and you a natural.

_(the word rolls off your tongue and fits)_

You love fighting because it feels like dancing. Because there is always movement, always steps that must be performed.

_(and the adrenaline in your blood soars)_

Sometimes when you jump, sometimes when you push off the ground, sometimes when you are so close to touching the clouds, you feel like you can fly.

_(and if you could bend anything more than your body, it would be air)_

That way you could truly ascend to the sky.

_(bend, don't break)_


End file.
